Sprinkled across the country Of Trinidad are men and women who cure snake bite and scorpion stings, jaundice, asthma, maljo (evil eye), headaches and a majority of illnesses through healing prayers called “jharay”.

The gift, given to special people who abstain from meat and alcoholic beverages, is invoked once a year on Divali night to perform its miracles.

Bhairo Baba of Quinam uses two sticks plucked from a cocoyea (strips taken from coconut leaves) broom.

He measures the sticks evenly in length and, while reciting the special prayer, sweeps the ailment out of the body.

He explained that proof of the effectiveness of the ritual healing was in the growth of the broomsticks which he measured again. The length of growth during the ritual suggests the extent of the infection removed. At 48, he has been jharaying for over 25 years.

“My grandmother used to jharay and I learnt the prayers from her,” he said.

He said that those who perform the ritual healing possess special powers.

“We call on the deities to remove the poison or pain and act as a direct communication between those inflicted and celestial beings,” he said.

Allison Rampersad was warded at the San Fernando General Hospital for 19 months with a mystery leg problem which doctors said would lead to her death if she did not amputate the leg.

She refused to have her leg amputated.

Mystic Rohit Ramjit made a daily trip to the hospital to jharay the leg that caused Rampersad “unbearable” pains at times.

She said, “The very first time my leg was jharayed, I felt an enormous relief.”

She credited him with the miracle and, after leaving hospital, went to his Grant Trace, Rousillac home for regular visits.

Naziffa Mohammed said that her two children suffered asthmatic attacks during childhood.

“I took them for medical treatment but truthfully, I believe it was jharaying that cured them,” she said.

She said that she took her children to a “Sadhu” (Hindu holy man) in the village and often took him (the Sadhu) to the hospital to jharay her children.

“Prayer works miracles and of the healing effects of jharay, I am confident,” she said.

Khaki (father’s younger brother’s wife) is well known for jharaying jaundice at Laltoo Trace, Penal. Those who seek her assistance walk with a bottle of mustard oil which she pours into a thali (brass plate). She used “doob” (type of lawn grass) to extract the jaundice while reciting the sacred mantras. The oil turns a deeper yellow when jaundice is extracted.

“Partap” of San Francique Road, Penal, and “Gandhi” of Corinth Settlement, Ste Madeleine, are both well known for jharaying a number of ailments.

Faith healing and complimentary medicine have become increasingly popular over the years, for their seeming ability to reverse fortunes.

Boysie’s car crashed on the highway. He had just bought the vehicle and although he walked off the wreckage without a scratch, had lost over $80,000.

Then police arrested him for rape. He lost his job. Out on bail, Boyie had nothing.

His mother persuaded him to “jharay” at a local pundit (Hindu priest) daily.

Special prayers were performed as well and soon afterwards, the case was dropped. Boysie got another job and a marriage was arranged for him.

When Meera began vomiting after eating her lunch, she knew without a doubt that it was the evil eye of someone. Meera went to her uncle for “jharaying” and once the ritual was over, she was back to normal.

Faith, it is said is blind and many people believe that they can be cured by the age old method of jharaying that formed part of the oral traditions brought to Trinidad from India by East Indian indentured labourers during the period 1845 to 1917.

The custom has been handed down and is practised throughout the country by persons of all religions and ethnicity who learn the prayer and adhere to the strict lifestyle of those who have the power to heal.